Winches



United States Patent Inventor Raymond John Hicks Llandrindod Wells. Wales Appl. No. 780,381 Filed Dec. 2, 1968 Patented Dec. 29, 1970 I Assignee Compact Orbital Gears Limited Rhayader, Radnorshire, Wales a British Company Priority Dec. 2, 1967 Great Britain No. 54,942/67 WlNCl-IES 13 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl 212/125, 254/150, 254/186 Int. Cl B66c 19/00 Field of Search 254/150,

186,185, 187,184,183,l68;2l2/l34,135,l24, 125

Primary Examiner-Harvey C. Hornsby Attorney-Jennie, Edmonds, Morton, Taylor and Adams ABSTRACT: A winch, which may be of the crab-type, with a horizontal drum and an internal epicyclic gear drive. The Winch drum is journalled in end plates which are suspended from a single point which takes all the weight of the drum when there is no load. The end plates are also journalled at two further points which lie in the plane tangential to the drum surface in which the load is normally applied and so take the weight of any load. The construction of the frame from which the drum and its plates are suspended and the drive to the epicyclic gear, together with the mounting arrangement for the drum, allow certain distortion to take place under load without detrimental effect.

PATENTED 050291910 SHEET 1 (IF 5 FIGI - I v 0,787 PATENTED [150291910 3,5 5

' SHEET 5 (IF 1 wmcinzs This invention relates to winches and is concerned with winch drums provided with epicyclic gear sets. In British Pat. Specification No. 1,082,751 there is described a construction of the type wherein the drum is driven by a central or first annulus meshed internally with a plurality of planets which also mesh with a central driving gear pinion or sun gear. The planets are carrierless thus providing a compact and lightweight assembly. The planets are supported at their ends on opposite sides of said first annulus in stationary toothed annuli, and they are also located by caging rings. This arrangement is satisfactory for many purposes but requires the drum to be journaled on relatively deflectionless and hence robust and massive journals such as in a straddle frame.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an arrangement in which the massive journals are obviated and in which distortion and deflectionare permissible thus enabling an even lighter and compact winch drum to be provided. This may be particularly significant with crab mounted drums running on an overhead gantry in enabling simple tracks to be used on the gantries and obviating the need for means for preventing crab frame distortion.

According to the present invention there is provided a winch comprising a frame, a horizontal drum on which rope is wound, end plates for the drum in which thelatter is journaled an epicyclic gear housed in the drum and in driving connection therewith and a motor mounted on one of said end plates with a drive shaft through the drum to the epicyclic gear, the end plates being supported by the frame at three points offset from the drum axis, the first point being above the drum so that it alone takes the weight of the drum and motor assembly, and the other two points being in the same plane parallel to the drum axis as the rope load normally applied to the drum thereby to take substantially all the rope load on the drum without significantly altering the weight on said first point.

Preferably there is an even number of rope falls from the drum symmetrical with respect to the center of the drum. For example, there may be two falls to a common pulley supporting a hook, each fall being guided by grooves of opposite hand formed in the drum surface either side of the center This will ensure that the load is evenly spread each side of the center of the drum. The two support points in the plane of the rope load are also preferably symmetrical with respect to the radial plane through the center of the drum.

For a better understanding of the presentinvention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of an open barrel crab of an overhead gantry hoist;

FIG. 2 is an end elevation of the crab of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the crab of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an axial section, to an enlarged scale; through the drum of the crab; and

FIGS. 5a, 5b and 5c are diagrams for illustrating forces acting in or on the crab.

The crab of the drawing comprises a frame 1 made of parallel substantially rectangular vertical plates 2 held in spaced relation by four horizontal tubes 3, 4, 5 and 6 extending between corresponding corners of the plates 2. The two lower tubes 5 and 6 are extended outside the plates and have wheels 7 mounted thereon to run on rails 8. A bracket 9 (FIG. 3) on the outside of one of the plates 2 supports a motor 10 whose toothed drive shaft 11 meshes with a toothed wheel 12 integral with one of the wheels 7. The motor 10 is preferably an electric motor and its power supply cables (not shown) are free to allow the motor to drive the frame 1 along the rails 8.

A winch drum 13 extends between the plates 2, which have coaxial apertures 14, and is supported by end or yoke plates 15 which lie close against the inside of the plates 2. At each end of the drum 13 a braked motor 16, 17 is fixed to the corresponding drum end plate 15, and the motors are located outside the frame plates 2 and extend freely through the apertures 14. The drive supplied by these motors will be described later in connection with FIG. 4.

Each yoke plate 15 is substantially circular with a lug 18 projecting radially from its periphery and the two lugs are coupled by a tube 19 extending parallel to the winch drum axis and externally of the winding surface. The ends of the tube 19 have studs 20 that are journaled in bushes in the lugs 18 of the yoke plates 15. Although the bushes are, or may be, cylindrical, the effect due to the length of the drum and the relatively small size of the bushes is to allow deflection (although providing some stiffness and resistance) of the plates 15 one to another as if the bearing bushes were spherical or were universal joints. Centrally of its length, the tube 19carries an eye 22 through which a transverse rod 23 passes, the ends of the rod 23 being fixed to thetwo upper tubes 3 and 4 which extend between the frame plates 2. The winch drum 13 is thus suspended from the single eye 22.

Each of the yoke plate lugs 18 also carries a trunnion 24 angularly spaced, with regard to the axis of the drum, from the tube 19. The trunnions 24 are coaxial and project towards one another to be received in sockets 24A carried by brackets 24B welded to the frame 1 at the junctions of the tube 4 and the frame plates 2.

When the crab is located on a horizontal gantry the eye 22 providing the single suspension point lies in a vertical plane containing the axis of the'winch drum 13. The common axis of the trunnions 24 lies in a second plane which is tangential to the winch drum surface, and when the hook 25 is in a typical median position two of the falls of wire rope 26 wound on the winch drum 13 and extending between the latter and a pulley or pulleys 27 supporting the hook also lie in said second plane which intersects the vertical plane in the vicinity of the center of gravity of the load. These planes can best be seen in the diagrams of FIGS. 5a and 5b.In the simplified arrangement indicated in FIG. 5b the wire rope 26 has two falls wound on two portions of the winch drum 13, the falls passing around a single pulley. In the arrangement of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 the falls pass around two pulleys 27 supporting the hook and up around a single pulley 28 adjacent the drum 13. The pulley 28 is mounted centrally in the channel of an inverted U-section girder 28A extending between the plates 2 and forming part of the frame 1.

The two portions of the winch drum 13, referenced 29 and 30, lie one on either side of a vertical median plane between the plates 2. They have coarse thread rope guide grooves of opposite hand so that the rope wound on these grooves will descend tangentially of the drum from points equidistant from the median plane to the pulleys 27 and so that rotation of the drum will either wind or unwind the rope from both channels.

Referring now to FIG. 4, the winch drum 13 comprises the two generally cylindrical portions 29 and 30 which have radially extending flanges 31, 32, 33 and 34 welded to their ends. The two central flanges 32 and 33 are bolted to opposite sides of a central ring 35 which is internally toothed and forms a drive annulus by which drive is transferred to the drum. The end flanges 31 and 35 are respectively bolted to centrally apertured circular end plates 36 and 37 which are journaled by bearings 38 on substantially cylindrical spigots 39 welded I to the yoke plates 15 and extending inwardly therefrom. A resilient seal 40 is provided at the outer end of each bearing 38, these bearings being retained in position by snap rings 41.

Elongated planet pinions 42 mesh with the teeth around the interior of the central ring 35. The pinions 42 are divided into three separately toothed parts 42A, 42B and 42C along their length, the teeth of the central part 42B meshing with the drive annulus provided by the ring 35. The teeth of the other two parts 42A and 42C are divided from the teeth of the central part 42B by grooves 43 and mesh with internal teeth of fixed stationary annuli 44 which surround all the planets. A sun gear 45 located centrally of the planets meshes with the pinions at one end thereof. The stationary annuli 44 have identical tooth numbers which differ from the drive annulus tooth number by one, for example. The planets are carrierless,

that is they are held in location solely by the stationary annuli, the sun pinion, and by two caging rings 46 which are coaxial with the sun pinion 45 and which engage in the grooves 43, the planets lying wholly outside the caging rings. Rotation of the sun pinion 45 drives the drive annulus 35 via the planets 42 and hence the winch drum 13.

The stationary annuli 44 have hollow hubs 47 which are splined externally and which project towards the nearest end of the drum. Each yoke plate 15 has a cylindrical insert 48 projecting through the associated spigot 39 to the interior of the drum and is splined externally on the portion extending beyond the spigot 39. The cylindrical inserts 48 are attached to the yoke plates by means of annular plates 49 welded to their outer ends and secured by studs 50. The inner ends of the inserts 48 are coupled to the adjacent hubs 47 by means of tubes 51 whose ends are internally splined and mesh with the splines on the hubs 47 and on the inserts 48. Both hubs and adjacent ends of the coupling tubes 51 have the same tooth as the stationary annuli 44 and the other end of one coupling tube and its associated yoke plate insert 48 also has the same tooth number. The other end of the other coupling tube 51 and its asociated insert 48 have a tooth number differing by one to enable a vemier effect to be obtained in assembly of the yoke plates, whereby precise alignment of the trunnions 24 can be obtained.

The sun pinion 45 is the output member of an epicyclic reduction gear located to one side of the epicyclic drum drive gear. The reduction gear comprises a driven annulus 52 coupled to a drive shaft 53 extending through one of the tubes 51. The outer end of the shaft 53 is externally splined and a coupling tube 54, operating in a similar manner to the tubes 51, joins the shaft 53 to the drive shaft 55 of the motor 16. A set of planets 56 mounted on a carrier 57 fixed to the sun pinion 45 meshes with the interior toothed surface of the driven annulus 52. A central sun pinion 58 is meshed with the planets 56 and is on the end of a second coaxial drive shaft 59 which extends freely through the sun pinion 45, the caging rings 46, the hub 47 and the coupling tube 51 beyond to be joined by a coupling tube 60 to the output shaft 61 of the motor 17.

When the main motor 16 is driven, main drive is transmitted through the annulus 52 to the sun pinion 45 and thence to the winch drum 13. When the main motor 16 is braked the reduction gear annulus 42 is held stationary and creep drive can be transmitted to the drum by operation of the motor 17.

FIG. 50 is a section through one tooth of one of the pinions 42 in engagement with one tooth of the rotating drum annulus 35 and with teeth of the stationary annuli 44, the view being radial. It is assumed that unequal loading, drum distortion of frame distortion has twisted the stationary annuli with respect to one another, their mounting by the tubes 51 allowing this. It will be seen from FIG. c that in such circumstances a restoring couple is automatically created which tends to equalize tooth loading.

lclaim: l. A winch comprising a frame, a horizontal drum on which plates with a drive shaft through the drum to the epicyclic gear, the end plates being supported by the frame at three points offset from the drum axis, the first point being above the drum so that it alone takes the weight of the drum and motor assembly, and the other two points being in the same plane parallel to the drum axis as the rope load normally applied to the drum thereby to take substantially all the rope load on the drum without significantly altering the weight on said first point.

2. A winch as claimed in claim 1, wherein there is and even number of rope falls symmetrical with respect to the center of the drum, there being guide means to maintain this symmetry at all stages of winding and unwinding.

3. A winch as claimed rn claim 2, wherein said guide means are grooves of opposite hand in the drum surface either side of the radial plane through the drum center.

4. A winch as claimed in claim 1 wherein said first point is in the radial plane through the center of the drum.

5. A winch as claimed in claim 4, wherein said end plates are interconnected by a bar parallel to and above the axis of the drum, the center of said bar being suspended from said frame at said first point.

6. A winch as claimed in claim 2, wherein said other two points are symmetrical with respect to the radial plane through the center of the drum.

7. A winch as claimed in claim 1, wherein the drum has a central annular ring internally toothed to form part of the epicyclic gear drive, the planet pinions being elongated to extend axially beyond the teeth of said annular ring and to engage in internally splined ends of annuli fixed with respect to said end plates.

8. A winch as claimed in claim 7, wherein each annulus is connected to the adjacent end plate through the intermediary of a coupling tube coaxial with the drum and splined at each end to engage with corresponding splined portions on the annulus and end plate.

9. A winch as claimed in claim 8, wherein the number of teeth at the ends of the coupling tubes is the same as the number of internal teeth of each annulus except for one end of one tube, which has a tooth number differing by one.

10. A winch as claimed in claim 1,.wherein there are two motors, one mounted on each end plate, and a further epicyclic gear housed in the drum, the annulus of this further gear being driven from one motor, the sun being driven from the other motor and the planets being mounted on a carrier fixed to the sun of the first-mentioned epicyclic gear.

11. A winch as claimed in claim 1, wherein the frame includes two apertured parallel and vertical side plates connected by crossbars parallel to the axis of the drum, said end plates being mounted closely adjacent the inside of said side plates and said motor being located outside one of said side plates and extending freely through the associated aperture.

12. A winch as claimed in claim 11, wherein said other two points are provided by trunnions on said end plates projecting towards each other and each received in a socket carried by the frame.

13. A winch as claimed in claim 1 and being a crab, the frame having wheels and a motor mounted thereon in driving connection with at least one of said wheels. 

